Sathya Sai Speaks (Vol 1, Chap 1) Swami says: "Worship in the mind. I do not need your flower garlands and fruits, things that you get for an anna or two they are not genuinely yours!. Give Me something that is yours something which is clean and fragrant with the perfume of virtue and innocence and washed in the tears of repentance. Install the Lord in your heart and offer Him the fruits of your actions and the flowers of your inner thoughts and feelings!.That is the worship I like most, the devotion I appreciate most!"
Quantity or Quality
I have often thought to myself and asked, what pleases God more "Quantity" or "Quality". Is the person, who offers more flowers at the altar or breaks more coconuts at the temple or prays few more times in a day, more pious than I am or dearer to God than I am? Perhaps the person who chants the gayathri mantra ten times more in a day than I do, or is skilled and knowledgeable in the chanting of so many vedic chants and mantras is more evolved and more loved by God than I am. Could this be right? What about the devotee who has visited Swami at His ashram (during His lifetime) multiple times more than me, is this somehow directly correlated to a multiplier effect of Swami's grace or indicative of how much more Swami loves these devotees than He does me?
In this opening chapter of Sathya Sai Speaks in the first recorded discourse that Swami has given, HE is clear that it is not "Quantity", it is not the flowers that we buy from the store, but the fragrance of our "virtue and innocence". Our earnestness in practising the values of Love, Truth, Peace and Righteousness in our daily activities and lives. HE is not concerned about "Quantity".
HE says, "the Lord loves not the Bhakta (Devotee) but his Bhakti (devotion)". The number of devotees does not concern Him, the number of times that we have or have not visited the ashram is of no relevance to Him, the number of times we chant or pray in a day will not move Him. All of these actions are outward expressions of an inward journey, of an internal feeling, of an inner quest...it is with this internal feeling and inward journey that HE is most concerned with. HE wants the purity of devotion, purity of the heart and mind. I may have visited the ashram multiple times, perhaps multiple times more than the next devotee, perhaps the question that we must ask is not, "How many times did you see Swami? Perhaps the question we should ask ourselves is, "So what?". Question is not how many times I went there, the question is what did I do when I was there? What were the centre of my thoughts and feelings? Why was I there? What did I learn? and most pertinently, How have I changed? Have I found the impetus to transform myself? Has my faith deepened? Has my love for my fellow beings expanded? Has my will to love and serve ALL (no exceptions here) strengthened? Has my commitment to Help Ever and Hurt Never concretised? If I cannot declare a firm "Yes" to any one of these questions, then the same old question beckons, "So what?"
If the answer to this question is, when I was there, I was concerned with where I sat (first row, 15th row or 45th row of the darshan line). Perhaps I wanted to shop for bargains and buy cheap suits before I went for darshan (to have the Divine sight of Bhagawan). Question is, what was in my thoughts and feelings in the presence of DVINITY?
Then I ask the next question, so does this mean God wants quality? Even "quality" has value judgment attached. We sometimes say this is "better quality". "Quality" has varied or hierarchical grades too. Rice is graded with "A" or "AA" or "AAA" quality. Eggs are graded as "A" or "B" or "C" quality. Does God then grade His devotees as being "A", "B" or "C" grade? How do I know if my devotion is"A" "B" or "C" grade?. Perhaps if vibuthi appeared on my picture of Swami at home is indicative of a certain grade that I have achieved in my devotion. Perhaps if honey came, that would be "A" grade, if vibuthi came that would be "B" grade or if gold ornaments appeared, it is a distinction. Perhaps if Swami has materialised some object, that means I am more devoted than the next person. Could this be right? If I am the receipient of one of the above, I may like to think so. What if I am not one such receipient, what is my grade? My thoughts are, GOD is beyond such value judgments. God does not GRADE. To "grade" is "degrading". In Swami's words, HE refers to all as "divine embodiments" and "embodiments of love". Divinity and Love has no grade, it is universally equal. Divinity GUIDES us, each and everyone of us, in HIS own way. We come with different samskaras, vasanas and gunas, we come with different likes and dislikes, different temperaments, different inclininations and different karmic imprints and so for each of our unique traits, HE guides the way and carves out the path for us to walk to reach our destination, HIM.
In the same chapter Swami continues with the following:
"The first sixteen years of this Life have been as I have often told you the period when Baala leela (divine child sport) predominated and the next sixteen is being spent mostly in Mahimas (miracles) in order to give santhosha (joy) to this generation!. Joy and contentment are short lived sensations, you have to catch that mood and make it a permanent possession: Aanandha (bliss)! Afer the thirty second year you will see Me
active more and more in the task of Upadhesa (spiritual.instruction) -- teaching erring humanity and leading the world along the path of Sathya, Dharma, Shaanthi and Prema (Truth, Righteousness, Peace Love). Not that I am determined to exclude leela and mahima from My activity after that, I only mean that restablishing
Dharma, correcting the crookedness of the human mind and guiding humanity back to Sanaathana Dharma (eternal universal religion) will be My task thereafter!"
Hallmark of Spirituality
Often I have wondered, what is the hallmark of a spiritual person? If I claim to be on the spiritual path, or that I am a spiritual person, what distinguishes me from a person who has declared as not being a spiritual person. How would I stand out as being different in a room full of people, if I am spiritually inclined and they are not.
Firstly, if I hope to STAND OUT as being different, that is not the hallmark of a spiritual person, that is the demonstration of EGO. More often than not a spiritual person stands out not because he hopes to or wants to, but he is recognised for his humility by others. He is seen as demonstrating the qualities of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema in a quietly confident and unassuming fashion. This is the person who always has a smile on his face no matter what the circumstances of his personal life. Such a person has strong and deep faith in God. So what is faith? How do I know if I have faith? Faith is the unshakeabale believe in the WILL of God and the spirit of TOTAL SURRENDER to the WILL of God. If I have faith and if I have surrendered totally to the WILL of God, I will have no reason to despair, no reason to worry, no reason to doubt, no reason to hanker after anything, no reason to be jealous or envious, no reason to hate and no reason to be greedy. Perhaps there is a lesson to be taken from nature, the plant kingdom, the trees and flowers have total faith that there will be water, there will be nutrients in the soil and the sun will come out. Nature does not despair, it does not fear, it does not groan and moan, it simply allows the WILL of God to prevail.
A spiritual person smiles not because he is not troubled by the ups and downs of life, he smiles DESPITE the troubles. A spiritual person adheres to the principles of sathya, dharma, shanti and prema, not because his life's events are not challenging, but he adheres to them DESPITE the challenges. He does not holler his successes and achievements in a brazen display of EGO. So, who is this spiritual person in the room? I believe, the quiet, humble, unassuming, smiling person at the back of the room will probably fit this bill.
Sai Ram!
